Snow hits Amarillo

Cold front hits area harder than expected

A cold front swept through the Texas Panhandle faster and stronger than expected, bringing snowfall to Amarillo as the temperature dropped below the freezing point, said Andrew Moulton, meteorologist for the National Weather Service Amarillo.

“Everyone was kind of expecting it to maybe get into the Oklahoma Panhandle and maybe northern Texas Panhandle, but the front came through much stronger and much faster,” he said. “With it, the snow came much farther south.”

Moulton said snow totals will likely be less than half an inch, but high winds and visibility issues are the main problems. He said winds are gusting 45 mph or higher and probably won’t diminish until around midnight.

The temperature was 31 degrees at 6 p.m. at the weather service station near Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport.

Moulton said temperatures reached 67 degrees Wednesday Amarillo, and the weather service expects them to drop into the teens overnight. He said wind speeds should decrease to around 10-15 mph after midnight but temperatures would struggle to reach the 50s on Thursday.